Compete More: a Want, Need, Must

Being an Autodidact is about teaching yourself. For the first few weeks I’ll be entering the world of the Competition Shooter, who is required to teach himself much of the sport. Surprisingly this attribute: the need for self-improvement, is what drives many a champion to glory.

Competition Shooting. Shooting Sports. It’s a sport, where you shoot. Trouble is though many don’t know about it, those that do, tend to be on two very opposite corners: the “don’t but want to”, or the “do and also want to, more.”

Using this handy graph here we see, thanks to free online software, that there is overlap, and that it is small. Of course as a competitor, I would like to see more people competing, because the more interest there is, the more I get to shoot. To imagine a major sport that doesn’t cost money to play, or involve the spending of it one only has to reference American Football to be reminded that any sport that gets large enough brings in more innovation, more industry, more opportunity.

So I’d like to see more shooters on the field. Highlighting my story, and lessons learned early, I’ll explore how someone new to shooting, and interested in competition can get started. How to use the guy with the pistol that looks like it was once a Ferrari to your advantage, and what to practice you can consider after making it to the first match.

Which is where you can come in. I’m not new to shooting, and barely an adept at competing. But with one foot in the door myself, I’d like to breach this gate like an Army Ranger so a whole team can join the fun.